


I See Fire

by iknowhowyoukiss



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Complete AU, F/M, cs au week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-19
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-07-25 11:17:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7530613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iknowhowyoukiss/pseuds/iknowhowyoukiss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a dangerous era for people like Emma. But even more dangerous is the surprising connection between her and Killian -- magic as ancient as time, in their very blood, tethering them together to save the world. (Dragon AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	I See Fire

**Author's Note:**

> I may build off this world in the future, as I love it so much and it's an idea that's been in the making for a long time (and there's so much I'd like to eventually explore), but for now it will remain a stand alone one-shot :)

Emma’s made a mistake.

They both have.

Too much rum. Too much loneliness. Too little restraint.  

It wouldn’t have been a problem if she was just sleeping with him, but she actually likes the man. Not _likes_ likes him, god no, she could never involve herself with someone on a much deeper level than sex. She just can’t. She’s too used to being alone, and more than that, she _needs_ to be. No matter how handsome he is. Or how good to her he’s been, how _kind._ Not to mention funny and generous and caring. He’s been the closest thing she’s had to a friend in...forever, really.

And she shouldn’t have allowed him so near. As someone with too many secrets and too much baggage, she never should have let it get this far. 

She slips gently from the bed with as little disturbance as possible, and hopes to sneak away before anymore damage is done. It’s quiet in the room, but she’s learned to be quieter, like a ghost that vanishes as quickly as it appears. She moves hastily about the room, retrieving her clothes from where they’d been scattered across the floor of his cabin, forcing back the memories of his eager mouth and skillful touch. The blue of his eyes when he’d slipped inside her and whispered her name. 

There’s a heavy feeling in her stomach with each garment she collects, something akin to guilt, though she tires to convince herself that it’s anything but. She swallows thickly as she tugs on her breeches, wiggling them up her hips and working at tying the laces. Something glints in the moonlight in the corner of the room, catching her gaze as she tugs the tunic over her head.

Her whole body freezes, a soft gasp slipping from her lips while her eyes go wide and her blood runs cold. Shock is like a swift punch to the gut and her heart begins to hammer in her chest with the bitter echo of betrayal. It’s partially hidden beneath a pile of clothes, but she would know it anywhere.

It’s a weapon she is terribly familiar with.

Bile rises up and she swears she’s going to be sick, but she forces it down the same way she’s learned how to force down the magic dangerously sparking to life beneath her skin. She will not fall apart. No matter how restless the magic is, surging forth in her blood, tugging at sinew and bone, calling to her -- demanding, enticing, addicting -- she will not fall apart. She will not give in.

She should kill him -- right here, right now -- in his sleep. Her rage is strong enough and he’s just as alone as she is, so it’s doubtful anyone will miss him.

But she clenches her hands into fists at her side instead, and draws a deep breath of air into her lungs in an attempt to ease the tension and anger in her shaking body. She can’t. Not because it’s _him_ , but because _she_ is not a monster, despite what everyone else thinks, and while she hates everything he stands for, while she hates how betrayed she feels, he will not die at her hands tonight. Even if he deserves it.

Emma finishes dressing then turns to locate her boots before making for the door. She collides suddenly with a very solid object -- a far too familiar masculine chest -- then two hands clasp around her wrists. To steady her, no doubt, but also to trap her. Her magic flares again, aggressive and protective, eager to lash out, but she's stronger, resisting its siren’s song.

“Let go.” Her voice is firm, trembling only with the effort it takes not to unleash her wrath on him.

His eyes flicker towards the corner of the room, where the weapon lies, and she watches his face go carefully neutral. Anger clenches around her heart as she tugs her hands from his hold.

“I trusted you.”

“Emma-”

“I _trusted_ you!” She doesn’t scream it like she wants to, the words sounding more like a whisper-hiss than anything else.

“Emma, I can explain-” 

“Explain _what_ exactly, Killian? How you hunted me? How you seduced me? How you _lied_ to me?” Her throat closes up on the tail end of the last question while she continues to back away, and the magic inside of her grows stronger, little pinpricks of heat igniting along her skin and setting it aglow, until she can feel it reverberate through her bones.

The clawing need to transform and let her fury loose steals her breath away.

“I didn’t lie to you,” he pleads, holding his hands up in a gesture of peace, eyes willing her to calm down and hear him out. “Everything I said- everything I felt-”

“Don’t,” she warns, holding up a finger to him, magic emanating around her in soft, golden flicker of light. It’s a warning, but also a reaction to her emotions -- the hitch in her heart at his almost-confession. “ _Don’t_.”

“Emma, _please_ , don’t do this-”

“I’m leaving,” she retorts, cutting him off as she backs up towards the door. “And if you come near me again, I swear to every deity in all the realms, I will kill you on sight.”

“Emma-”

She doesn’t allow him to finish, yanking the door open, and the second she sets foot outside, she runs, Killian’s swear echoing behind her. When she makes it to the clearing -- her heart near beating out of her chest and her lungs on fire and her muscles aching -- she knows she can’t contain it any longer.

She changes, her scream tearing out through the night as her clothes rip at the seam and her body pulsates with magic -- her bones shifting, her skin stretching. She can feel the wings sprouting from her back and it hurts, god it _hurts_ , but as she takes to the sky, the wind calms her racing heart, soothes the pain of transformation. 

Her wings spread wide, beating fast and hard, taking her higher and higher as if to escape the world below, the ache that refuses to relinquish its grip in her chest. _Killian_.

Without warning, something tugs fiercely at her blood -- words ancient as time, calling to her, commanding her -- and she releases a defiant scream, head thrashing wildly. _No_.

 _No, no, no_.

That’s impossible. It can’t be.

She has no choice but to obey though, not in this form, and struggle as she might against the intangible ties, she banks to the right, curving in an arc on another frustrated screech as she returns to the place where she had transformed. Emma glides down, claws sinking into the earth as she hisses and snaps at him. He stands there with his feet shoulder-width apart and his arms crossed over his chest, and has the audacity to glare at her.

“Throw a tantrum all you want, we both know you can’t hurt me. At least, not like this.”

She snarls at that -- at the fact that he’s supposed to be a friend and not a foe, that he was only ever to use their link to invite, never to control -- then abruptly begins the change back. It’s an exhausting endeavor, even more painful than the shift to dragon form, and when she is human once more, her knees give out. Killian swears, reaching her in three strides and sliding his cape from his shoulders to wrap around her.

“Are you alright?”

The concern in his voice hurts her and she shoves his hands away. “Oh, so now you want to be a gentleman?”

“I’m always a gentleman,” he replies, swatting her own hands away when he reaches back to secure the clasp before drawing the cloak tightly around her. “But if you would prefer to have this conversation naked as the day you were born, you’ll hear no complaints from me. It’s nothing I haven’t already seen.”

She scowls at him but otherwise ignores the sentiment. 

He sighs then, pinching at the bridge of his nose before shifting onto his rear to sit in front of her. “Emma-”

“A dragon-lord as a dragon-slayer,” she scoffs, giving him a wry laugh. “I guess if you live long enough, you really do see every damn thing.”

“You didn’t- you didn’t let me explain before you stormed off- or, flew off,” he gestures towards the sky with his hand.

She doesn’t want an explanation, she just wants to be rid of him. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just kill you right now.”

“You can’t, first of all,” he shrugs.

“In this form, I can-”

“But you won’t.”

Her snort is unladylike, but she doesn't care. “You seem rather sure of yourself.”

“That’s not who you are, Emma.”

“Let’s get one thing straight, you traitor, you don’t know anything about me.”

His eyes harden slightly but his smirk remains in place. “You’re an open book, darling.”

She huffs indignantly, because she doesn’t want to be an open book to him, she doesn’t want to be _anything_ to him, then attempts to rise to her feet. Her body is still weak, though, and she simply falls back to her hands and knees with a groan. He curses her again, hands clasping around her arms through the cloak, the heat of his touch searing her skin despite the barrier between them and making her dizzy.

“Will you bloody just sit still?”

She tugs her arms free, moves a few inches away to put some space between them. “You have sixty seconds, then I’m crawling out of here if I have to.”

Irritation flits across his face. “Sixty seconds! How am I supposed-”

“Fifty-nine, fifty-eight-”

“I’m no dragon-slayer,” he snaps, picking at a piece of grass then angrily tossing it away.

“The weapon back in your cottage would suggest otherwise, but alright, I’ll play along.”

He gives her another annoyed look. “My brother and I come from a long line of dragon-lords. The Evil Queen has been picking us off one by one, building an army-”

Emma’s body jerks at the name, her blood boiling as she casts an incredulous look his way. “What? Why? She’s practically murdered the entire species and those she hasn’t, she’s driven into hiding. What good are dragon-lords without any dragons?”

“She was killing them because she’d wanted to use them in her quest to obtain rule over all four kingdoms,” he explains, eyes downcast and sad. “Your kind wouldn’t help, so she’d set out to make sure you couldn’t be used against her.”

She lets out a shaky breath, angry tears burning behind her eyes and threatening to spill onto her cheeks. The Evil Queen is a monster, a tyrant unfit to rule and deserving of a slow and painful death. 

“Then she’d realized that she didn’t need to kill you,” Killian continues, interrupting her thoughts. “All she had to do was get the dragon-lords to control you at her will.”

“What?” Her brows furrow in disbelief.

“She has my brother, Liam. I infiltrated her camp, hid the true nature of my identity and worked my way up to become a Black Knight in an attempt to find my brother. I’m no dragon-slayer, Emma. I’m just pretending to be one.” He glances up at her then, eyes unwavering on hers. “And when we met, I hadn’t intended- I wasn’t- things grew complicated.”

“Because you seduced me?”

“Because I started to care for you, Emma.”

“Then you should have told me.”

“I know, love. I’m sorry.”

She stares hard at him, gazing flitting across the dips and curves of his face in the light of the moon. “Why didn’t you?” He hesitates and she cants her head at him. “Why didn’t you, Killian?”

“Because I knew once I’d told you, I’d have to let you go. She’s hunting your kind, it’s not safe here.”

The way her heart shoots up into her throat is unavoidable, though she makes no attempt to discuss that particular matter further. Especially because there’s so much more at stake. “Don’t you understand? This is bigger than just your brother. Other people’s lives are in danger, not just mine, or my kind’s.”

“What are you saying, Emma?”

“I’m saying, that if we free your brother, we have to save them all.”

“‘ _We_?’”

She merely rolls her eyes at the way the corner of his mouth tilts up, the way the expression on his face goes infinitely soft and hopeful, though it’s difficult to conceal her own little knowing smirk. “Come on. We have to get out of here. Regina will know there’s a dragon in the area by now, and she’ll come looking for me.”

“How do you expect us to leave? It’s not safe by sea, she has a fleet patrolling the coast and a ship in every port. Nor is it safe by land with her black knights always on the hunt.”

“Yeah, well, one of them’s already found me.” She tilts her head up towards the sky while he chuckles over that. “How do you feel about flying?”

His brow quirks at her. “Well, considering I’ve never been, I don’t know.”

Emma hums contemplatively, then turns her focus inward. She _feels_ as if her strength has returned but she won’t know for sure until she gets to her feet. She begins to move and Killian is instantly at her side, one hand support her arm and the other around her waist as he helps her to her feet.

“Wh- what are you doing? You need to rest.”

Her hands fall to clasp of his cloak when she realizes he’s watching her intently, curious gaze flickering back and forth between her fingers and her face. “Turn around,” she tells him, eyes narrowing. 

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I’m not changing in front of you, Killian.”

“You changed back in front of me,” he argues.

“That was different.”

“How?”

“It just was! Just turn around, Killian!”

He finally does as she asks, not without grumbling under his breath and she throws the cloak over his head for good measure.

"By the way, if you try to control me in dragon form again, I'll rip off your balls and feed them to you for breakfast."

She transforms then, not bothering to wait for his response, gritting her teeth and willing herself not to scream as the magic takes hold and rushes through her body. It’s not as bad as it had been the first time, her rage having fueled her pain. Still, when her wings sprout from her back, she drops down to one knee and claws her fingers into the ground for support, the whimper escaping her mouth before she can stop it. She screeches only on the final stages of the change, her new bones setting into place.

Her wings beat and she huffs through her nose when she’s finished. Killian turns for a look at her, and the expression on his face can’t be described as anything but reverent and full of wonder. His eyes rove along her form and when he takes a step towards her, she doesn’t back away. Gingerly he reaches out, soothing her in the ancient language of the dragon lords as he runs his hand across her scales.

“I should have known you’d be gold,” he murmurs.

But she’s more than just gold, her scales glimmering tiny flecks of different jewel-colored tones wherever the moonlight hits. He caresses her again, near her flank, and Emma hisses a warning.

“Are you blushing, love?” he teases. “I can’t imagine why, as I noted earlier, I’ve seen every bit of you already.”

She rolls her eyes and bares her teeth in warning, tail giving him a warning swish that makes him chuckle. He scratches behind his ear.

“So- ah- shall I just...” he trails off, gesturing at her back. “Mount you then?”

That makes her glare at him, green eyes narrowing as she watches his lips tip up into the smirk he isn’t even trying to hide. _Oh, he just thinks he’s so funny_.

She lowers to the ground, though, and waits for him to climb on.

“For the record,” he says, once he’s settled. “If there was any seduction happening, it was mutual.”

A low growl rumbles from her chest. She knows he’s only bringing it up again because she can’t argue back in this form, so she solves the matter by swatting him with the end of her tail and sending him careening off her back with a startled shout. He scowls at her at her when he’s back on his feet, dusting at his breeches, and she hopes he can see the laughter bright in her eyes.

“Bloody hell, alright, I’ll be behave!”

They take to the starlit sky soon after, the moon hanging low on the horizon, and the future of the realm resting delicately between them.

_Fin_


End file.
